LISTEN ABOVE: Queenstown barrister Liam Collins joins Larry Williams to explain the backlog.

Too few judges means it's a long wait for cases to be tried in the Queenstown District Court and some defendants are pleading guilty because they don't want to play a two-year waiting game to see their day in court.

A criminal lawyer says there is no resident judge in the southern resort town, so once every two weeks a judge there from Invercargill for bail hearings and sentencing.

There are roughly only 12 days a year set down for criminal trials.

Liam Collins told Larry Williams that's ridiculous for a place the size of Queenstown, and it's causing problems not just for defendants.

"It affects the other side as well. Police are forced to withdraw sometimes quite serious allegations because the complainants or witnesses travel back overseas and have no interest in returning either."